By Suzanne Ma
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — Critics of China's government are angered over the Empire State Building honoring the communist country's 60th anniversary by changing its colors at dusk to red and yellow.
About 40 supporters of Tibet stood in front of the building’s 33rd and 34th street entrances on Wednesday to protest a morning lighting ceremony.
The protesters held signs that read: “Mao’s Empire State Building?” and “There’s no honor in 60 years of China’s occupation of Tibet.”
The Empire State Building often changes its colors to mark holidays and big events; October 1 is the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.
Lhadon Tethong, executive director for Students for a Free Tibet, called the lighting disgraceful.
“I find it a real outrage. It is such an obvious pandering to the Chinese state,” said Tethong, whose organization was behind the protest on Wednesday.
“People are disappointed that such a beloved icon like The Empire State Building is being used in an obvious, political, ugly way. It is reinforcing and supporting what is in fact a state that represses people’s basic liberties.”
The People’s Republic of China will mark the 60th anniversary of its founding on Thursday with a series of key events across China, including a massive military parade in Beijing Tiananmen Square.
New York Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner said the lights should not be used to honor what he called “a nation with a shameful history on human rights.”
Building spokeswoman Marisa Picker did not directly address the protesters or Weiner’s statements.
In an official statement released to the press on Wednesday, Picker said the Empire State Building “celebrates many cultures and causes in the world community with iconic lightings” and that Wednesday’s illuminations were “in honor of the 1.3 billion Chinese people and the 60th anniversary of their country.”
